Customer Reviews

Eric Burdon Sings the Animals Greatest Hits

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This CD is an excellent compilation of the middle period of Burdon's solo work. IT IS NOT The Animals. If you want to hear the originals, buy Best Of and Best Of 66-68. As explained in the CD's liner notes, these songs are pretty much from the early to mid-70s. I had both Stop and Sun Secrets (Eric Burdon Band albums with two different line-ups) when they originally came out on vinyl and they contain some nice material. I also had Declares War and The Black-Man's Burdon (both Eric Burdon and War) before that, when they came out. This CD contains work from all four albums, although the War material is not credited, even on the liner notes, but if that's not War backing him up on Home Dream, Paint It Black, Nights In White Satin, Tobacco Road, and Mother Earth, then Burdon found an excellent and similar back-up band that should be working full time. Trust me, it's War. I don't have the originals anymore and haven't replaced the CDs yet, but anybody who knows the originals and listens to the combination of jazz-funk-R&B that's on those songs will recognize those cuts. Stop and City Boy, and I think We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, are from Stop, and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, It's My Life, When I Was Young, and The Real Me are from Sun Secrets. The three covers are very good once you get beyond your expectations (bias, if you will) for the originals. The Real Me is a particular favorite of mine because its style is very reminiscent of the feel of material on the classic Winds Of Change album, especially It's All Meat From The Same Bone. Not in melody, but in production, sound, and feel. It sounds like it could be a lost cut from Winds or The Twain Shall Meet. It's total Burdon's West Coast mid-60s sound. Have Mercy Judge is a nice blues piece from the rare Eric Burdon-Jimmy Witherspoon album. I think A Day In The Life comes from Declares War, but I don't rememember for sure. I don't know the origin of this version of The House Of The Rising Sun. It's probably previously unreleased and sounds like an out-take. Not my favorite version, but a nice interpretation if you LISTEN to what the artist is presenting. That's the key to this entire CD. If Eric Burdon showed up in your living room with some back up musicians and did this version of House right in front of you, you wouldn't compare it to the original, you'd say Holy Mackerel, I just heard Eric Burdon do a really neat version of The House Of The Rising Sun right in my own living room. Appreciation is a function of expectation. Listen to the artist/s on this CD and the material for what it presents. Not what you think it should present. This is a great compilation. You get classic Eric Burdon Band and Eric Burdon and War cuts, plus some nice treats thrown in for good measure. It's a good cross-section of stuff. And again, if you want to hear the originals, BUY them, not this one. But if you want to hear Eric Burdon workin' and workin', this one'll do it.

That is,something the original Animals NEVER had.I believe that these recordings were to make up for the lackluster musicianship that Eric had to endure through his early days.Don't get me wrong.I've always enjoyed the originals...until I got a hold of this!!Way before CD's came out,I had bought a cassete with most of the songs on here.I think it was a German import.I was a little put off at first(not being the originals),but listen to it.This album(yes,I still call them albums)ROCKS!!!If anything sounds like a lounge band,it's the original Animals.I can't blame Eric for a millisecond for wanting to redo these songs with a real rock band.I just like these versions BETTER!!

....all the hits are here, but not how you remember them. Eric Burdon shows us how "artistic" he can be, changing the timing, emphasis and arrangements for no good reason. Knowing the original Animals versions, I found these ones painful to listen to and had to return the CD

Okay, the cover of "Nights in White Satin" is downright painful. Aside from that, these takes are a worthy record of what Eric Burdon was up to in the decade and a half after the Animals. Just don't expect the arrangements and sounds you remember from the real greatest hits. (Except "Spill the Wine", which is basically the original.)

One of my Christmas gifts this year to my son and his intended was that each could pick a favorite vinyl and I'd burn it on CD. This was his pick. At 28, he doesn't have my ingrained memories of the Animals recordings, and to him this was just solid - and treasured - rock and roll.

Home Dream is also from the Jimmy Witherspoon-Eric Burdon Album, not Declares War. I was thinking of Home Cooking. The others are War, as stated.
Also, this CD's title should have been something like "Eric Burdon: The Best of the 70s" and then people wouldn't have had the rude surprise of discovering its content does not match its title. The word Animals should have been nowhere on this thing. All else remains the same. A great compilation.

Burdon blazed a burning path with the animals but it didn't end there - i really dig the changes he went thru in in reinterpreting these staples. Guess this is what makes the world go around. I have had this CD for many years and it stills energizes me to hear these variations...and i enjoy them more than the originals!

I was very excited waiting for this CD to arrive -- failed to recognize until I heard it that this was Eric Burdon singing the Animals' classics with a new set of musicians. From the overall lack of quality, it appears that remastering the original recordings would've been a better idea. If you have to have this one, please listen to a number of the cuts first.

This collection contains some of Eric Burdon's best recordings ever, although only five songs are "Animals greatest hits". I'm not sure of the origination of this recording of "House of The Rising Sun", but tracks 2-8 are from his two Eric Burdon Band albums from the mid 1970s. Tracks 9 and 10 are from BLACK MAN'S BURDON with WAR and tracks 11 and 12 are from ERIC BURDON DECLARES WAR. Tracks 13 and 14 are from his album with Jimmy Witherspoon and the final track, "A Day In The Life", is from Eric's third album with War, LOVE IS ALL AROUND, which was a compilation of unreleased tracks from the first two Eric Burdon and War albums. I have all the albums these are from and as I said before, they are some of his best recordings.

The CD is Burton's interpretation of the classic songs. Some are good, some are not. In any event it is not what you would expect from the titles. Listen to the cuts before you buy.

....all the hits are here, but not how you remember them. Eric Burdon shows us how "artistic" he can be, changing the timing, emphasis and arrangements for no good reason. Knowing the original Animals versions, I found these ones painful to listen to and had to return the CD